There could be deepening conflict between Indigenous leadership seeking to preserve their culture and Indigenous politicians seeking to conserve their own power and expand their own political influence.

Speakout is Truthout's treasure chest for bloggy, quirky, personally reflective, or especially activism-focused pieces. Speakout articles represent the perspectives of their authors, and not those of Truthout.

Last year, I was invited to give a talk on peace in Carbondale, Illinois. I was surprised to discover that in recent years, activists from across Carbondale had come together with a broad vision of what their community could one day become -- a nonviolent city. They wanted a new holistic approach to their work, with a positive vision for the future, so that over time their community would be transformed into a culture of nonviolence.

What the late British historian Eric Hobsbawm called "the short 20th century" is said to have begun with the Great War of 1914 and ended in 1989-91 with the collapse of the Soviet bloc. This remarkably bloody short century is seen as marked by Nazism, Stalinism, World War II and the Holocaust, and then the Cold War. As Theodor Adorno famously put it after 1945, humanity had experienced "progress," albeit from the slingshot to the megaton bomb.

After two decades of progressive governments spreading in the region with unprecedented economic, political and social gains -- especially in what is recognized as a human rights year by the UN and several international organizations -- Latin America faces the advance of aggressive neoliberal sectors secretly supported and financed by Washington. Journalist, writer and filmmaker John Pilger granted the following interview.

The Board for the California Faculty Association, the union representing some 23,000 professors, lecturers and other educators across the California State University system, passed a resolution on February 5 to authorize a strike across all 23 CSU campuses on April 13-15 and April 18-19. To prepare to shut down school those five days this spring, the CFA held a "Strike School" session on the California State University San Marcos campus in early February.

Panama is nearing a shift that could change the country forever. President Juan Carlos Varela attended a national summit in the Bocas del Toro region of Panama on Tuesday, March 15, to address the severity of this issue. There is a growing chasm between the native population of Panama, its other citizens and the interests of the country moving forward in the modern world. "We are trying to work with the Indigenous people," President Varela said. "They are a part of our history."

On Feb. 26, 17-year-old Palestinian-American Mahmoud Shaalan was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers at a security checkpoint near the Beit El settlement in the West Bank. The Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint shot Mahmoud several times, and later reported that he had tried to stab them. The week after the incident, the Palestinian Ministry of Health released a statement saying that the teenager's body was "riddled with bullets." Witnesses said that the soldiers continued to shoot Mahmoud as he lay on the ground.

My heart broke last Thursday to read the Baghdad School of Music and Ballet -- the only remaining music and dance school in Iraq -- is in danger of closing due to a lack of funding. The rising tide of conservatism, the ramifications of war and equipment budget cuts posed increasing challenges to its existence through the years, and now dozens of fluttering arms and oud-wielding hands hang in the balance at this merit-based gem of an institution.

When the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) comes to town this week for its annual policy conference, high on the agenda of issues the committee will be pushing Congress to support are bills designed to "fight the boycott of Israel." This campaign to combat efforts to "boycott, divest or sanction" Israel (BDS) has become a full-fledged national movement, with AIPAC-supported initiatives moving forward not only in Congress, but in two dozen state legislatures as well.

Our culture of abuse is a major problem in the United States and in our world. Look around and see that in our military, we have over 20,000 sexual assaults per year. The Department of Justice report from December 2014 estimates that 110,000 women between ages 18 and 24 are raped each year, and one in four women on college campuses are raped. Recently, there was a case in Oklahoma where a police officer was convicted of 18 countsof raping Black women with his abuse of power.

This past November, during its 25th annual convergence at Fort Benning, Georgia, Roy Bourgeois of School of the Americas Watch made a momentous announcement. In 2016, this event will instead be held in early October in Nogales, Arizona -- divided from Nogales, Mexico, by security forces and barbed wire-topped walls. Puzzled at first by the move, we've become keenly aware that there's much more we need to learn about this neighbor with whom the US shares a nearly 2,000 mile-long border.

Speakout is Truthout's treasure chest for bloggy, quirky, personally reflective, or especially activism-focused pieces. Speakout articles represent the perspectives of their authors, and not those of Truthout.

Last year, I was invited to give a talk on peace in Carbondale, Illinois. I was surprised to discover that in recent years, activists from across Carbondale had come together with a broad vision of what their community could one day become -- a nonviolent city. They wanted a new holistic approach to their work, with a positive vision for the future, so that over time their community would be transformed into a culture of nonviolence.

What the late British historian Eric Hobsbawm called "the short 20th century" is said to have begun with the Great War of 1914 and ended in 1989-91 with the collapse of the Soviet bloc. This remarkably bloody short century is seen as marked by Nazism, Stalinism, World War II and the Holocaust, and then the Cold War. As Theodor Adorno famously put it after 1945, humanity had experienced "progress," albeit from the slingshot to the megaton bomb.

After two decades of progressive governments spreading in the region with unprecedented economic, political and social gains -- especially in what is recognized as a human rights year by the UN and several international organizations -- Latin America faces the advance of aggressive neoliberal sectors secretly supported and financed by Washington. Journalist, writer and filmmaker John Pilger granted the following interview.

The Board for the California Faculty Association, the union representing some 23,000 professors, lecturers and other educators across the California State University system, passed a resolution on February 5 to authorize a strike across all 23 CSU campuses on April 13-15 and April 18-19. To prepare to shut down school those five days this spring, the CFA held a "Strike School" session on the California State University San Marcos campus in early February.

Panama is nearing a shift that could change the country forever. President Juan Carlos Varela attended a national summit in the Bocas del Toro region of Panama on Tuesday, March 15, to address the severity of this issue. There is a growing chasm between the native population of Panama, its other citizens and the interests of the country moving forward in the modern world. "We are trying to work with the Indigenous people," President Varela said. "They are a part of our history."

On Feb. 26, 17-year-old Palestinian-American Mahmoud Shaalan was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers at a security checkpoint near the Beit El settlement in the West Bank. The Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint shot Mahmoud several times, and later reported that he had tried to stab them. The week after the incident, the Palestinian Ministry of Health released a statement saying that the teenager's body was "riddled with bullets." Witnesses said that the soldiers continued to shoot Mahmoud as he lay on the ground.

My heart broke last Thursday to read the Baghdad School of Music and Ballet -- the only remaining music and dance school in Iraq -- is in danger of closing due to a lack of funding. The rising tide of conservatism, the ramifications of war and equipment budget cuts posed increasing challenges to its existence through the years, and now dozens of fluttering arms and oud-wielding hands hang in the balance at this merit-based gem of an institution.

When the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) comes to town this week for its annual policy conference, high on the agenda of issues the committee will be pushing Congress to support are bills designed to "fight the boycott of Israel." This campaign to combat efforts to "boycott, divest or sanction" Israel (BDS) has become a full-fledged national movement, with AIPAC-supported initiatives moving forward not only in Congress, but in two dozen state legislatures as well.

Our culture of abuse is a major problem in the United States and in our world. Look around and see that in our military, we have over 20,000 sexual assaults per year. The Department of Justice report from December 2014 estimates that 110,000 women between ages 18 and 24 are raped each year, and one in four women on college campuses are raped. Recently, there was a case in Oklahoma where a police officer was convicted of 18 countsof raping Black women with his abuse of power.

This past November, during its 25th annual convergence at Fort Benning, Georgia, Roy Bourgeois of School of the Americas Watch made a momentous announcement. In 2016, this event will instead be held in early October in Nogales, Arizona -- divided from Nogales, Mexico, by security forces and barbed wire-topped walls. Puzzled at first by the move, we've become keenly aware that there's much more we need to learn about this neighbor with whom the US shares a nearly 2,000 mile-long border.